1. Field of the Invention
This present invention relates generally to a draft-free fire barrier and a partition that is openable and closable in the event of a fire to permit persons to exit an area containing a fire while still forming a draft-free fire barrier, in which the rotationally mounted panels or leaves or wings are attached to a frame or casing by means of fasteners or hinges. A closing mechanism which works without outside energy is attached to the frame around the panels and interacts with the panels, causing the panels to move from an open position into a closed position, thus creating a fire barrier or acting as a fire barrier. The closing mechanism is actuated when a warning signal indicating the possibility of fire in the area reaches the mechanism from a smoke detector. The present invention further relates to a method for the operation of the partition.
2. Background Information
Such partitions are installed in particular in public buildings, hospitals, hotels, factories, etc., so that when a fire breaks out, persons inside the building have a means of escape that also serves as a barrier to prevent the fire from spreading to other parts of the building. Buildings are divided into individual fire compartments which are separated by fire walls. These fire walls effectively seal one building compartment from another, so that any fire that breaks out in one area will not spread to another. Movable partitions are therefore a necessity because it would be impossible to seal a compartment against fire yet allow the free movement of occupants in and out of the room. Such partitions must then simultaneously meet two requirements; i.e. they must close automatically when a fire breaks out to complete a fire wall, and simultaneously allow any persons who may still be in the room at the time to leave the room unharmed. Therefore such partitions are located in the escape routes to create a safe fire-proof passage for building occupants while preventing the spread of fire from the room.
Repeated attempts have been made to equip automatic sliding doors so that they can also be used as fire barriers or to create a fire barrier, yet still be permissible for use in escape routes. Building authorities and building regulations set very strict guidelines for the construction and operation of sliding doors, and current sliding doors do not fit the requirements to be used in fire escape routes. In the event of a fire, the barrier or partition, by rule, must automatically close to seal off an area and prevent the fire from spreading. Sliding doors can accomplish this task quite easily, but fail to accomplish the other requirement of being able to be opened by persons inside the area. Building occupants would therefore be trapped inside because sliding doors have neither handles with which a person could grasp to force open the partition, nor a functioning automatic opening mechanism since the power to the opening mechanism would have been turned off. If a person were to be able to pry the sliding doors open, this would create a situation where the doors would remain open and the fire-wall would be compromised. Therefore, sliding doors, as they are currently constructed and without any additional measures or features, cannot be used as fire barriers and certainly cannot be used in escape routes or as escape passages.
By way of example, a fire door which is equipped with a fire-protection door leaf is described in German Patent No. 195 22 366 A1. The fire door described in this prior art document is made of wood, although door panels made of steel and filled with a suitable material such as light alloy or glass are also used in the form of framed doors and are generally realized with a glass filling when they are used as fire doors.
Because such doors which are realized in the form of casement doors, i.e. the door leaf is fastened to a casing so that the door panel can swing, are normally left open to permit the flow of people and goods to pass unimpeded, such doors are equipped with a smoke detector which triggers an alarm and, among other things, with electric door retaining and closing devices, as disclosed in German Patent No. 25 31 314 A1. This type of door is equipped with a closing mechanism which works without outside energy. The door closers in question can be both top-mounted door closers and floor-mounted door closers. If the door in question is a two-panel door, there is also a closing sequence control device which guarantees that with door panels which generally overlap, first the fixed panel, i.e. the panel which is normally closed, and only then the moving panels are moved into the proper closed position. The electrical retaining devices make it possible to keep the door panels in the open position, and only when a fire alarm is emitted by means of the smoke detector are these door panels then moved into the proper closed position.
As an alternative to the device described in the above referenced German Patent No. 25 31 314 A1, magnetic clamps can also be used, e.g. such as those which are described in the DORMA EM advertising brochure, as a precautionary fire protection measure. These magnetic door clamps simultaneously represent holding or retaining devices which hold the fire doors in the open position. When there is a risk of fire, the holding device is deactivated by a tripping device (smoke detector and control unit).
The known art also discloses devices for the automatic closing of fire doors, on which sliding doors can be closed in response to the melting of an element as a result of elevated temperatures, because there are counterweights which move such a door into the closed position.
An automatic sliding door with at least one door panel is described in German Patent No. 40 14 727 A1, whereby the sliding door is equipped with an additional auxiliary drive mechanism in addition to the standard drive mechanism. For the normal closing of the door panels, energy is fed to and stored in the auxiliary drive mechanism. In the event of a power failure or interruption of the line power, and/or in the event of a simultaneous interruption of the normal operation of the sliding door, this stored energy automatically opens the sliding door. The auxiliary drive mechanism thereby preferably consists of a rubber or elastic element which is stretched by the closing of the sliding panels and moves the panel(s) out of the closed position in the event of a power failure and a simultaneous and related separation of a coupling between the drive motor and the actuator device. In addition to the above-mentioned rubber element, other auxiliary drive mechanisms can also be used, e.g. in the form of compression or tension springs.